The 2012 AIHL season is the 13th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 28 April 2012 until 26 August 2012, with the Goodall Cup finals following on the 1 and 2 September. The Newcastle North Stars won the H Newman Ried Trophy after finishing the regular season with the most points. The Melbourne Ice won the Goodall Cup for the third year in a row after defeating the North Stars in the final.
Teams In 2012 the AIHL had 9 teams competing in the league.
2012 AIHL teamsTeam City Arena Head Coach Captain Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide IceArenA Ryan O'Handley Greg Oddy Canberra Knights Canberra Phillip Ice Skating Centre Bear McPhail Mark Rummukainen Gold Coast Blue Tongues Gold Coast Iceworld Boondall Peter Nixon Adam Geric Melbourne Ice Melbourne Medibank Icehouse Paul Watson Vinnie Hughes Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne Medibank Icehouse Bill Wilkinson Shane Hardy Newcastle North Stars Newcastle Hunter Ice Skating Stadium Garry Doré Ray Sheffield Perth Thunder Perth Perth Ice Arena Stan Scott Samuel Wilson Sydney Bears Sydney Sydney Ice Arena Vladimir Rubes Michael Schlamp Sydney Ice Dogs Sydney Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink Ron Kuprowsky Andrew White
League business During the off-season the Australian Ice Hockey League announced that Perth Thunder had been accepted as a full member of the league expanding the competition to nine teams. The Mustangs IHC changed their name to the Melbourne Mustangs after the AIHL lifted a condition that prohibited the use of "Melbourne" in their team name. The restriction was originally put in place to protect the brand of the Melbourne Ice. It was also announced that from 2012 the league would be split into two conferences in order to manage costs and length of the season. The two conferences where named the Bauer Conference and Easton Conference after the AIHL signed a three-year deal with the Skaters Network who is the distributor of the ice hockey brands Bauer Hockey and Easton Hockey. The Bauer Conference will consist of the Canberra Knights, Newcastle North Stars, Sydney Bears, and the Sydney Ice Dogs, while the Easton Conference includes the Adelaide Adrenaline, Gold Coast Blue Tongues, Melbourne Ice, Melbourne Mustangs and the Perth Thunder. Following the announcement of the conference system a change in the finals playoff structure was also announced. The winners of each conference at the end of the regular season would play in a semi-final against the runner-up of the opposing conference with the winners of the semi-finals progressing to the Goodall Cup final. It was also announced a one-year partnership with Virgin Australia in which the airline would become the leagues preferred supplier for the 2012 season. In February 2012 the Sydney Bears announced that they were leaving the Penrith Ice Palace as their home arena and were returning to play their games at the Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills where they had previously played from 2003 to 2006. In April 2012 the AIHL announced that the Sydney Ice Dogs would be restricted to the dress of only three import players per game, as opposed to the normal four. The restriction is part of the penalties imposed on the club after it breached the AIHL code of conduct during the 2011 Goodall Cup final series in which a player and two team officials were involved in an assault of a Medibank Icehouse security guard.
Prior to the start of the regular season, three exhibition games were held. The first game was held between the Mustangs and the Melbourne Ice at the Medibank Icehouse with the Mustangs winning the game 5–2. The second and third games were played between the Sydney Bears and the Sydney Ice Dogs, with the Sydney Bears winning the first game 5–2 and the Sydney Ice Dogs winning the second game 5–4 in a shootout.
On 3 June, Gold Coast Blue Tongues' home game against the Melbourne Ice at Bundall Iceland was called off after a shortened first period due to an unplayable surface; it was the second such cancellation in less than a year at Bundall Iceland, with 10 July 2011 match between the Blue Tongues and Sydney Ice Dogs cancelled without play for the same reason. After the cancelled game, Gold Coast was evicted from the rink by its owners, and on 8 June, it was announced that its remaining seven home games for the season would be played at Iceworld in Acacia Ridge, Brisbane; the matches will begin at 10:30pm, with a better time unable to be negotiated with the rink due to the short notice of the relocation. Although Melbourne was offered a win by forfeit for the cancelled match, the club agreed instead to reschedule the match to Thursday 23 August, to be played in Melbourne (although technically a Gold Coast home game).
During July there will be a weeks break for the first Trans-Tasman Champions League. The formation of the Trans-Tasman Champions League was announced back in August 2011 between the AIHL and the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL). The series will feature two teams from each the AIHL and the NZIHL each playing the others once with the winner being the team who finishes first in the round-robin standings. The two teams chosen from each league will be the 2011 regular season champions and the winner of the 2011 playoffs. In a situation where the winning of both events is the same the runner up of the playoff final will be selected to represent their respective league.
Player transfers Date Player Previous team New team Newcastle North Stars Retired Adelaide Adrenaline Newcastle North Stars Texas Brahmas Adelaide Adrenaline New Jersey Outlaws Adelaide Adrenaline Alaska Avalanche Adelaide Adrenaline SUNY-Potsdam Adelaide Adrenaline Viikingit Adelaide Adrenaline HC Risuty Sydney Bears University of Ottawa Adelaide Adrenaline Toulouse-Blagnac Sydney Ice Dogs Pensacola Ice Flyers Sydney Ice Dogs Bobcaygeon Bucks Melbourne Ice Banff Academy Bears Melbourne Ice Connecticut Jr. Wolfpack Melbourne Ice EVU U20 Melbourne Ice No team Melbourne Ice HYS The Hague Melbourne Ice Quad City Mallards Newcastle North Stars Swan Valley Stampeders Newcastle North Stars HYC Herentals Newcastle North Stars Bobcaygeon Bucks Sydney Ice Dogs Sydney Bears Sydney Ice Dogs Dayton Gems Canberra Knights Dayton Gems Canberra Knights Brooklyn Aviators Canberra Knights Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Gold Coast Blue Tongues Botany Swarm Adelaide Adrenaline HYC Herentals Adelaide Adrenaline Notre Dame Argos HR Midget Tier2 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 Toronto Canada Moose Sydney Bears 2012 Mississippi Surge Perth Thunder 2012 EHC/2 U20 Perth Thunder 2012 Friesland Flyers Perth Thunder 2012 Karhu-Kissat Perth Thunder 2012 Kalamazoo Wings Perth Thunder 2012 EHC/2 U20 Perth Thunder 2012 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Perth Thunder 2012 Viikingit Adelaide Adrenaline 2012 Fayetteville FireAntz Canberra Knights 2012 Ochapowace Thunder Canberra Knights 2012 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Canberra Knights 2012 UJK Canberra Knights 2012 Whitby Dunlops Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 Danbury Whalers Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 ESC Darmstadt Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 Middlebury College Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 Melbourne Mustangs Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 EPS U17 Melbourne Ice 2012 Kramfors-Alliansen Melbourne Mustangs 2012 Columbus Cottonmouths Melbourne Mustangs 2012 Solna SK Newcastle North Stars 2012 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Newcastle North Stars 2012 Adelaide Adrenaline Sydney Bears 2012 Canberra Knights Sydney Bears 2012 Toronto Canada Moose Sydney Ice Dogs 2012 SUNY Brockport Melbourne Mustangs 2012 Notre Dame Argos HR Midget Tier2 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 2012 No team Gold Coast Blue Tongues
Regular season The regular season will start on 28 April 2012 and will run through to 26 August 2012 before the teams compete in the playoff series. The Gold Coast Blue Tongues' final seven home games were relocated from Bundall, Gold Coast to Acacia Ridge, Brisbane after the cancelled match on 3 June. All relocated matches were scheduled to commence at 10:30pm, and the dates of some of the matches were adjusted to accommodate the away teams' travel plans.
The Newcastle North Stars won the H Newman Reid Trophy after finishing the regular season with the most points, 52. On 29 August the AIHL released the list of finalists for the 2012 awards. Matt Armstrong of the Melbourne Ice, Jeremy Boyer of the Newcastle North Stars, Perth Thunder's Kenny Rolph and Sydney Bears' Tomas Landa were nominated for the Most Valuable Player award, with Boyer and Landa both winning the award. Aaron Barton of Adelaide Adrenaline, Anthony Kimlin of the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and Perth Thunder's Kiefer Smiley were nominated for the Top Goaltender award with Anthony Kimlin being named the winner. Adam Blanchette of the Blue Tongues, Scott Levitt of the Melbourne Mustangs and Newcastle's Rob Lawrance were nominated for the Top Defenceman award with Rob Lawrance being announced as the winner. George Huber of the Adrenaline, Greg Bay of the Blue Tongues, the Mustangs' Brendan McDowell and Perth's David Kudla were all nominated for the Rookie of the Year award with George Huber and Greg Bay tying for the win.
April Game Date Time Away Score Home Location Attendance Recap 1 28 April 16:30 Canberra Knights 3 – 2 (SO) Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide 400 2 28 April 17:00 Melbourne Mustangs 5 – 6 (SO) Melbourne Ice Melbourne 1700 3 28 April 18:00 Sydney Ice Dogs 2–5 Sydney Bears Baulkham Hills 4 28 April 17:00 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 3–4 Newcastle North Stars Newcastle 1000 5 29 April 15:30 Canberra Knights 2–5 Melbourne Ice Melbourne 6 29 April 17:00 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 7–2 Sydney Bears Baulkham Hills 7 29 April 17:00 Newcastle North Stars 4–6 Sydney Ice Dogs Liverpool
May Game Date Time Away Score Home Location Attendance Recap 8 5 May 16:30 Canberra Knights 4 – 3 (SO) Perth Thunder Perth 9 5 May 16:30 Melbourne Ice 5–6 Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide 10 5 May 16:00 Newcastle North Stars 2–3 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Gold Coast 11 5 May 17:00 Sydney Bears 2–5 Sydney Ice Dogs Liverpool 12 6 May 16:30 Melbourne Ice 3 – 2 (SO) Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide 13 6 May 15:30 Canberra Knights 4 – 3 (SO) Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne 14 6 May 17:00 Sydney Ice Dogs 7–6 Newcastle North Stars Newcastle 800 15 12 May 16:00 Adelaide Adrenaline 2–1 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Gold Coast 200 16 12 May 17:00 Perth Thunder 2–4 Melbourne Ice Melbourne 17 12 May 17:00 Newcastle North Stars 8–5 Sydney Bears Newcastle 18 12 May 17:30 Sydney Ice Dogs 4–1 Canberra Knights Canberra 750 19 13 May 16:00 Adelaide Adrenaline 8–4 Gold Coast Blue Tongues Gold Coast 200 20 13 May 15:30 Perth Thunder 5–2 Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne 21 13 May 17:00 Canberra Knights 1–6 Newcastle North Stars Newcastle 22 17 May 19:15 Melbourne Ice 5–1 Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne 23 19 May 16:30 Perth Thunder 2–5 Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide 470 24 19 May 17:00 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 4 – 5 (SO) Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne 260 25 19 May 17:00 Newcastle North Stars 6–3 Sydney Ice Dogs Liverpool 250 26 19 May 17:30 Sydney Bears 4–1 Canberra Knights Canberra 1000 27 20 May 16:30 Perth Thunder 2–6 Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide 28 20 May 15:30 Gold Coast Blue Tongues 4–0 Melbourne Ice Melbourne 1000 29 20 May 17:00 Sydney Bears 4–7 Newcastle North Stars Newcastle 30 26 May 16:30 Melbourne Mustangs 3–2 Perth Thunder Perth 31 26 May 17:00 Adelaide Adrenaline 4–7 Melbourne Ice Melbourne 1000 32 26 May 17:30 Newcastle North Stars 9–5 Canberra Knights Canberra 33 27 May 16:30 Melbourne Mustangs 4–2 Perth Thunder Perth 34 27 May 15:30 Adelaide Adrenaline 2–5 Melbourne Ice Melbourne 970 35 27 May 17:00 Canberra Knights 2–7 Sydney Bears Baulkham Hills 175
June